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The Turkish Uprising: First-Hand Experiences From an American Photographer

I recently returned to the US after spending about two weeks in Istanbul, Turkey, photographing the uprising and resistance of the citizens there. What began with about 20 activists occupying Gezi Park in an attempt to stop the demolition of the park in order to replace it with a shopping mall turned into a countrywide uprising against the oppressive, authoritarian government after police attacked the peaceful protestors with tear gas and water cannons. Below you can find my first-hand experiences and photographs from my time on the ground:

After making a last-second decision to travel to Turkey in order to photograph and report on what is happening there, I arrived in Istanbul on the morning of June 5th, camera in-hand. I had been following what had happened in Istanbul up until I arrived there, and had seen the situation change significantly, so I was unsure of what to expect. The police had viciously attacked the protestors in Gezi Park and Taksim Square the first few days of resistance, but had since pulled out of the area, leaving the protestors to govern themselves.

After arriving at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, I caught a cab and told the driver to drop me off as close to Taksim Square as possible, as I was aware the protestors had built make-shift barricades on the streets leading towards the square. He ended up dropping me off directly in front of one of the barricades, telling me I would have to walk the rest of the way. So, I grabbed my gear, and headed towards the square. Below is a photo of where the cab driver dropped me off:

The first few days I spent in Istanbul, there were no police officers to be seen near Taksim Square. It was quite amazing to see how well people behaved themselves without law enforcement in the area. During this time, the mood in Gezi Park and Taksim Square felt extremely free and festive. People were playing instruments, lighting off fireworks, sending Chinese lanterns into the sky, waving flags, and singing songs. Below are several photos that were taken between June 5th and June 10th:

Thousands of protestors fill Taksim Square.

Drummers in Taksim Square.

Protestors holding up a flare while standing on a destroyed car in Taksim Square.

Protestors carry a large Turkish flag through Taksim Square.

Sports fans, who played a large role in the protests in Istanbul, march through Taksim Square.

Tents set up in Gezi Park, where thousands of people camped out every night.

Protestors dancing around a destroyed police car at the entrance to Gezi Park.

Flowers planted into a peace sign at the location in Gezi Park where the first few trees were cut down before the occupation and resistance in the park forced construction to end.

Fireworks going off above Gezi Park.

Protestors marching through Taksim Square.

Thousands of people fill Taksim Square.

While Taksim Square was void of a police presence, protestors used that time to build make-shift barricades on the streets leading into the square in hopes of making it more difficult for police to enter the area when they came back. Some barricades were made with city busses, while others were made with police barricades and other materials that the protestors found:

On June 8th, I traveled to Gazi Mahallesi, Istanbul, which was about a 30 minute cab ride from Taksim Square. People there had been taking to the streets for several nights (as well as in many other cities and neighborhoods around Turkey), and police were responding to the protestors with water cannons and tear gas. Local activists said it was unsafe for me to go by myself, so they ended up connecting me to an activist who had been on the ground in Gazi for the past few nights. He didn’t speak any English, and I don’t speak any Turkish, so communication was a bit difficult. But, he watched my back, and helped keep me safe the entire night.

It was almost midnight by the time I arrived in Gazi that night, and many of the thousands of people who had been in the streets earlier had already gone home. A few hundred remained, and continued to face down water cannon trucks, tear gas, and flash bangs that were being used in an attempt to disperse them:

Protestors stand at the bottom of a hill, as water cannon trucks sit at the top of the hill before approaching the protestors to disperse them.

Protestors hold up peace signs as the headlights from two water cannon trucks shine on them.

A water cannon truck attempts to disperse protestors.

Protestors sit down to rest for awhile.

A protestor walks down the middle of the street as two water cannon trucks approach from behind.

Three days after my trip to Gazi, on the morning of June 11th, police broke through the barricades that protestors had made and entered Taksim Square. As I had been awake all night, I was about to go to bed when I got word of what was happening. I quickly packed up my gear and headed towards the square. On my way, I passed many people who were frantically fleeing the area, coughing as their eyes watered from tear gas that had been deployed as the police entered the area. Many people were yelling at me in Turkish, clearly telling me to go back, but they didn’t realize that I had traveled many miles just to photograph this.

As I entered the square, my eyes stung from lingering tear gas. The police were announcing over loudspeakers that they only planned to remove banners and tents from the square, but did not plan to enter Gezi Park. Not long after, a small group of people began throwing molotov cocktails and rocks at police vehicles from behind a set of barricades. I spoke to many Turkish activists who said they believed this was staged in order to “justify” the actions of the police that day. The protestors found it odd that the police responded with less use of force on this small group of people than they had used during earlier protests. The police ended up using tear gas, water cannons, and plastic bullets on thousands of protestors in both Taksim Square and Gezi Park during clashes that went all day and into the night, lasting for over 20 hours:

Hundreds of police officers, along with water cannon trucks, sitting in Taksim Square.

Protestors stand on the edge of Gezi Park, watching as hundreds of police officers entered Taksim Square with multiple water cannon trucks and other armored vehicles.

Protestors stand in front of a water cannon truck before cops began attacking protestors with tear gas, water cannons, and plastic bullets.

A protestor throws a tear gas canister back towards police.

Tear gas filling Taksim Square.

Protestors standing behind make-shift barricades as they are sprayed with a water cannon.

My view from inside the tear gas.

Several hours after the attack on Taksim Square began, I was hit with a water cannon and was completely engulfed in tear gas so thick that I was unable to see. After making my way into Gezi Park to receive help from the medics for the effects from the tear gas, I decided it was best for me to head back to the apartment I was staying at in order to change into dry clothes and get a few photos posted. On my way back, I was hassled by a group of police officers who were several blocks away from the clashes. They saw my cameras and stopped me, then started grabbing at my arm as if they were trying to detain me. After I told them several times that I was leaving the area, they finally allowed me to walk down the closest street that led away from Taksim Square.

Later that night, I went back out with a couple of friends and we tried to get back to Taksim Square. We soon realized that police officers were keeping others from getting near the square, and were pushing protestors further and further down the streets away from the area. We ended up joining thousands of others on Istiklal Street, several blocks from the square where the police were launching tear gas into the crowd.

A protestor throwing a tear gas canister back towards the police.

Tear gas hanging in the air above protestors as they are pushed further from Taksim Square.

Tear gas floating down the street towards protestors as they are pushed further from the square.

Once the situation calmed down, police remained in Taksim Square, along with several water cannon trucks and other armored vehicles. The next few days were filled with tension as protestors expected an attack on Gezi Park at any point. Make-shift barricades were erected at the entrance to the park:

In an attempt to ease the tension, Davide Martello, a pianist who was on an international tour at the time, decided to stop by Taksim Square. He set up his piano in the square two days in a row, and played for the large crowds that gathered, creating a calming effect on anybody who listened. Even the police officers seemed to become more calm while listening to his music. On his second night in the square, Davide played for 12 hours straight:

The calm didn’t last long, though, and on the night of June 15th, police attacked Gezi Park. They used tear gas and water cannons to clear protestors out of the park, and then continued to push them further away from the area. I had been taking a nap when the police first entered the park, but soon woke up and headed directly to the park. As I walked along the street next to the park with two other photographers from the US, police inside the park began yelling at us. Although we were the only three people in the area, they then shot tear gas directly at us:

As we walked towards Taksim Square, I saw the tents and other items that had been in the park being thrown into large trucks. Police guarded the entrances to the park, keeping protestors from re-entering it:

We then headed towards a large group of protestors who had been pushed onto one of the streets leading away from Gezi Park, and were waiting for police to advance with a water cannon truck. The clashes continued late into the night, with police officers pushing protestors further and further away from the park:

Protestors standing in front of a water cannon truck just moments before it began spraying them.

Protestors being sprayed with a water cannon.

Police advancing towards protestors while shooting tear gas into the crowd on the street.

Protestors shooting fireworks at the police as the police shoot tear gas and water cannons at protestors.

A man lying on the ground, disabled from tear gas inhalation. I ended up helping him get to his feet and get out of the tear gas, and a videographer also came over to help. Once we got him to safety, the injured protestors offered us both cigarettes as thanks for helping him.

A police officer firing tear down the street towards protestors.

Thousand of protestors gathered on Istiklal Street.

The following morning, police blocked the entrances to Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Turkey’s European Union minister, Egemen Bağış, had said that anybody who tried to enter the square would be treated as a terrorist.

At this point, I had been in Istanbul for almost two weeks, and my flight back to the US was scheduled for the following afternoon. Although a part of me wanted to stay and continue documenting, another part of me realized I had already documented a lot, and I felt that I needed to go home so I could reflect on my experiences and share them with others through speaking and writing about it.

As I sit here now, writing this blog post from the safety of a coffee shop in my neighborhood in New York City, even through the images of tear gas, water cannons, and riot police that threaten to cloud up my memory, I am clearly remembering the faces of the courageous, inspiring citizens of Istanbul that I met and photographed while I was there. I will soon recover from the physical and emotional effects of what I witnessed and experienced, but the people I met, and the positive experiences I had, will forever remain with me.

Her yer Taksim, her yer direniş.Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance.

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28 Comments on “The Turkish Uprising: First-Hand Experiences From an American Photographer”

“I will soon recover from the physical and emotional effects of what I witnessed and experienced” – Jenna, I don’t think you can ever really “recover” from the emotional effects of an experience like this, but you will most definitely grow from it. What I find most interesting in your photos is the strong male presence. Having spent some time in Turkey, I am not surprised by this, yet it makes me sad. I know women were involved in this uprising, but they sure seemed strongly outnumbered…

@Glorie as being a protester myself in istanbul i can say the difference of this resistance was participation of females. photos might be showing a male oriented profile for protester but in the heat of the protest i noticed a great involvement of female comarades not like i have ever seen before.

Great work, thank you Jenna Pope. I agree that the photos you uploaded can make one be prejudiced against the female participation, which was unbelievable in many terms. I hope you could also add the photos showing that. That would make your work complete:) Love and hugs from Turkey…

We did have women Gloria. Men tended to go to the front and where there was more action (which is also where the camera tends to focus) but you must have seen some icon photos: one woman in a red dress on the first day was a worldwide focus as well as a grandma (age 74) complete with a white bun on her head with a sling and her blood group (A+) written on her forearm.

For some reason I am unable to reply directly to Alev – but I actually don’t have many photos of women protestors, as there were more men than women. As Amet mentioned, there were more women than normal, but it was still male-dominated. I’ll look through my photos to see if there’s any I can add or switch out with the current ones that include more women to show that there was, in fact, a female presence.

Thank you for your reply, I agree with you.. All I’m saying is that there were more women and very brave ones in the streets than expected, considering the fact that this is a male-dominant society in many aspects.I just hope that everyone can see that not only men look for their civil rights and freedom in this country.. Women do as well. Thank you also for your effort to add other photos:)

Also, on more than one occasion, while I was photographing during the clashes, it was women who would ask me to not take photos of them. They were much more reluctant to be photographed than the men were.

Thank you for making the whole world hear us,thank you for making us feel we are not alone.We need people from everywhere in the world to support us to gain freedom we’ve lost back, to show the real face of the dictator who uses religion to cheat people..

you know what mert, you’re wrong. ok, dhkp-c is designated as terrorist by turkish government. neither the organization nor the designation are definitely not international though. actually there’s no such thing as international terrorist organization, there’s no such consensus on a legal definition of terrorism in the first place. sdp, on the other hand, is a perfectly legal political party. (some members are sued, yes) but just because erdogan says that everyone who took shelter in sdp’s office are terrorists doesn’t change the fact, in legal terms.
so, i checked every banner and flag i spotted in these photos and i’m pretty sure all of them are legal, again in legal terms, not in erdogan terms of course (he’s mad enough to pronounce whatever he likes a terrorist). there’s only one photo though, 4th in Gazi district photos, ‘Protestors sit down to rest for awhile’ where you can see ‘MLKP’ and ‘DHKP-C’ written on a wall in background, both of which designated terrorist organizations for probably more than 10 years. but, does that make the guys shown in front of that wall qualified as terrorists? no. well, if you’re not pleased with the protests that’s just fine. but please let’s not accuse these people of being something they are not.

Hi Jenna. I really like your post and your photos. I’d like to share something interesting with you. A couple days ago, I changed the image in my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pukircak) with a photo I saw and liked a lot in the internet. I didn’t know whose it was. Now, reading your post, I realized that it is one of your photos :-) I will write your name under the photo right away, of course. And with your permission, I’d like to reblog it in my own blog. As being one of the protesters in Taksim, I want to thank you again for documenting so much from the resistance…

Dear Jenna, first of all thank you for documenting these amazing days of our lives and reflecting it on your website with an objective perspective. So many lies are being told by our government that it is really very important to be truthful.

I am so glad that you’re safe and sound back where you live.

As a protestor in Gezi myself, I could not capture the moments the way I wanted to even though I pay my bills by being a freelance photographer as well just because most of the time I was simply trying to survive. I could only take pictures when the police cooled down. So thank you for sharing these beautiful photos with us. Along with the writings that explain the atmosphere.

I agree with the other comments that there was a huge amount of female protestors right from the first day. I must note that during the resistance, each and every protestor no matter what background they come from were unbelievable respectful to each other. Everyone helped everyone ignoring their own health issues. For the past 20 days, most of the time, I joined the protests alone but I was never afraid cause I knew if something would happen to me, I was at the safest place: among these beautiful people.

We’ve experienced magical moments in Gezi/İstanbul but you must know that the resistance also continued in many other cities of Turkey in parallel. Actually in Ankara, it still continues. The police violence hasn’t stopped, in contrast it toughened.

Anyways, I know I talked a lot :) Sorry for keeping too much space at this page, but since this subject changed each one of us for the rest of our lives, I can not stop talking :)

Another motto we use nowadays is:

Bu daha başlangıç, mücadeleye devam!
This is just the beginning, (we) continue to fight.

“Protestors standing behind make-shift barricades as they are sprayed with a water cannon.”
the picture with above caption could be written as ” Civil polices are provoking the police force in Taksim Square”